A new starter must learn how to relax their
muscles and utilise skeletal alignment to their advantage.
Habitual muscular tension actively prevents optimal
alignment.
Tense muscles lock the joints and impede natural, healthy skeletal use.

Let-go

Letting-go of tension and trusting the skeleton
requires a leap of faith, and here is where the difficulty lies.
The student must stop doing what is comfortable and
familiar, and try something entirely new.

Catch-22

Here is the catch-22: - in order to use the skeleton properly a person needs to
relax and allow the joints to open and the
spine to settle
- relaxation requires confidence and confidence assumes
security
- the unfamiliar promotes insecurity/fear and fear
keeps the body tense

Relax

The human skeleton can easily be aligned in a manner that works
constructively with gravity.
Gravity is useful.
Rather than fight against gravity or crumple, we want our bodies to feel
light, mobile and strong.

Losing the natural curvature

Instead of relaxing the lower back and allowing the pelvis to remain
neutral, many people shorten the lower back.
The spine loses its natural curvature and
becomes weaker; more vulnerable to injury.
They are typically unaware of this habit because it is 'familiar' and seems
'normal' to them.
Releasing the lower back is easy. However, you need to monitor it repeatedly
throughout the day until it becomes an established habit.

Body weight

We want to transfer body weight when we interact with a partner/opponent.
Relaxed muscles are heavier than tense ones.
Relaxed joints enable the body to sink and settle; thus creating more
stability and an increased ability to transmit
power through the entirety of the body.

Optimal structure

With careful consideration, every form,
drill and
exercise can be considered with optimal structure in mind.
The key thing is not to interfere with what the body
itself wants to do.
Becoming attuned to your body requires
awareness, sensitivity and relaxation.
It is important to feel comfortable at all times, and
never to force your body into performing any
movement or shape that "doesn't feel right".

When standing we
should have a sensation of being more in our heels than the front of the
foot. However, there
should be no tendency to tighten the toes or lift them off the floor. Let
the toes lie freely and allow the whole foot to 'soften'. Let the weight go
down 'into' the floor so your feel grounded. This gives a firm base from
which to think of lengthening upwards. Free your ankles so there is a little
sway available to help discover upright balance. In order to enjoy standing
without strain we should never get fixed in position.

(Noel Kingsley)

Considerations

The shoulder joints, hip joints and ankles are in vertical alignment.
The head floats upward but there is no conscious 'doing'.
The spine must drape from the skull.
The groin and the hips are open and free.
The 6 balanced pairs are adhered to.
Hinging of the torso takes place at the hip, rather than the ribcage or
lower back.
The knees are relaxed, not deeply bent.

Feedback

The hardest part is often to 'feel' where the arms
and legs need to go.
Cultivating this requires tuition, partner work and feedback.
The physics is not hard to understand or
implement.
Working with somebody else can
quickly show you if your framework is relaxed, tense, over-extended or weak
and prone to crumpling.

Peng

Skeletal alignment facilitates peng.
Without peng your tai chi will simply not work and you will be essentially
training externally.
The rounded, flexible shape of peng is present in every single movement.
It provides protection, enables stickiness and
allows you to roll around a line of force
instead of blocking it.

No peng?

Alignment is pointless if you do not develop peng.
It must be there in every single thing you do and
is never lost or broken.
The possession of peng means that you never
have to tense-up.
The skeleton acts as a structural conduit,
and the tendons, ligaments, fascia and relaxed muscles provide the
springiness.

Central equilibrium

Central equilibrium must be maintained
at all times.
If there is a risk of being compromised by an opponent, there are 3
options available:

These
yielding skills will enable you to
preserve your centre without losing peng.

Mobility/stability ratio

Exaggerating the size of the skeletal
alignment will lead to postural instability.
There will be a considerable number of evident
weaknesses.
No posture is impregnable, but an overly-extended framework is liable to
promote tension when put under pressure.

In the middle

The larger your frame, the less mobile the joints are.
Similarly, a frame that is too small will provide excellent
mobility and the ability to move rapidly, but no skeletal
balance or strength.

70/30 stance

When a student has reached a degree of suppleness,
flexibility and awareness that facilitates
good body use, they must consider a more martial framework.
The 70/30 stance is used throughout our curriculum.
It enables the student to use a deeper, longer, more powerful framework that
a new starter could not physically manage.
The advantage of this stance is that it protects the centre with ease,
maintains structural alignment at all times and enables rapid movement.
It is impossible to over-commit or over-extend.

Jing

The connected network of
body parts must move as one unit, but not in a rigid, robotic manner.
A significant degree of play in the joints is required if you desire the
ability to release energy.
Do not let the framework become a rigid cage.
Your body must act as a conduit for the the
expression of kinetic energy.
Use your mind to establish
groundpath.

Form movements

Form is the tool used by tai chi to
teach the student how to find and practice optimal alignment.
The extensive variety of form movements challenge the student to find the
best possible 'pattern of movement' with each step.
Learn how to align yourself well throughout
each and every form.
This is an activity best undertaken at home,
through lengthy practice and contemplation.
In class, ask other students to pressure test your individual form
movements.

Biomechanical advantage

Instead of tensing muscles as and when needed, the
internal martial arts cultivate
unbroken power at all times.
No tensing is required.
The unorthodox movements employed by the tai chi forms were designed to offer a biomechanical advantage when
using the body.
When successfully paired with an incoming attack, they offer a position of
superior leverage and
strength.
Learning how to accomplish this is a major area of study in its own right.

Effort/reward ratio

Internal body use challenges conventional wisdom and the conventional
application of strength.
The body must be strong.
The application of that strength is unorthodox.

The aim is to unite the entire body in application.
Every action is a complete action.
Every part of you does every movement.
This may sound strenuous but it is not.
Instead of delegating the workload to your arms and shoulders, every part of
the body is involved.
Rather than force your will upon the entire attacker, you limit your
attention to a small part of their body and use everything you have on that
target.
The strategy comes from The Art of War.

Martial arts students need a
weight bearing skeleton, a free psoas muscle and open hip sockets to perform
well. There is a tendency to lock the psoas muscle in a defensive posture
and fatigue the muscle by keeping it in a chronic contracted state. This
limits the movement of the leg, encouraging the use of the lumbar spine for
kicking and stops a person from performing effectively.